Umbrella



Sept. 4, 1956 D. A. MAPPIN ETAL UMBRELLA Filed Oct. 15, 1954 ATTORNEY BYW United States Patentj O UMBRELLA Dorothy A. Mappin and Walter L.Mappin, Manchester, England Application October 15, 1954, Serial No.462,487

3 Claims. (Cl. 13525) This invention relates to umbrellas of the foldingtype, and has for its object to provide an improved form thereof.

The present invention consists of a collapsible umbrella framecomprising an inner rib part, an outer rib part pivoted thereto at apoint inwardly spaced from the end of the outer rib, a stretcher and acoupling member pivoted to said outer rib part and to said stretcher,and means for limiting the angular pivotal movement of said couplingmember with respect to said outer rib part.

Other features and advantages will appear from the following descriptionof one embodiment thereof, in conjunction with the accompanying drawingsin which Figure 1 is a fragmentary view of an umbrella frame showing onerib in the extended position,

Figure 2 is a detail of the rib structure of the frame of Figure l, toan enlarged scale, and

Figure 3 is a further detail, similar to Figure 2 but showing the partsin the position they assume when the frame is collapsed.

The umbrella frame includes a stick 10, which may in known manner hecollapsible or telescopic, or made. in two readily separable parts. Onthe stick is a conven tional slide 11 which can be retained by catch 12,and a :crown 13. The ribs, of which one is shown, each have an innerpart 14 and an outer part 15; these are pivoted together by means of amember 16 at a point spaced inwardly from the end of rib part 15. Thestretchers 17 are each connected to the related rib by a coupling member18, more clearly shown in Figures 2 and 3.

The coupling member 18 is pivoted to the outer rib so that the pivotalmovement is limited in both directions. With this object the couplingmember is pivoted to the outer rib at a point 19 inward-s from the endof the latter, and the member is made with two spaced side pieces,between which the outer rib passes and joined by a part 18a. Themovement of the coupling member with respect to the rib is limited bythe top edge of the rib, as it appears in Figure 2, striking one edge orthe other of the part 1811. The end of the stretcher passes between thetwo sides of the coupling member 18 and is pivoted to it at 20.

The umbrella frame operates in the following way. Starting from theapproximately normal position shown in Figure l, the catch is released,and the slide moved downwardly. The umbrella then closes in the mannerof a conventional umbrella, and it is possible to continue the foldinguntil the umbrella is folded, as in the usual way. In the foldedposition the stretcher lies substantially parallel to the outer ribpart, as indicated by the chain line in Figure 2. When so folded thecoupling member 18 will be seen to have pivoted to one limit of itsmovement with respect to the two parts 14 and 15 of the rib; it istherefore arranged that this movement is limited to the extent necessaryto enable parts 15 and 17 to be brought parallel to each other.

It is also to be observed that if the umbrella is opened from the foldedposition, as the full open position is reached the corner 18b of thecoupling member 18 will, if the coupling is not in line with the outerrib part 15,

, 2,761,461 atented, Sept. 4,:1956

a 2- strike the-inside edge; ofrthe part-14, and thus tend to turn thecouplingumember into thedesired position in line.-. A resilient ring 21canbe used on the stick to assist the initial movement of the inner ribparts when opening the umbrella from thefolded position.

To collapse the umbrella, it is turned to the folded position asdescribed above, and the outer rib parts are pivoted outwardly andupwardly, until they lie next to the inner rib parts in the relativepositions shown in Figure 3, and then the slide is moved upwardly as faras it will go, when the stretcher and the rib parts are all as shown inFigure 3.

In this collapsed position the coupling member assumes the other limitof its movement with respect to the outer rib, this movement being justsuflicient for the purpose.

With the construction described there is provided an umbrella which canbe easily collapsed or folded and which can be made with parts which,but for the coupling member 18 which is a small and simple part, are ofconventional construction and readily available.

We claim:

1. A collapsible umbrella frame comprising a handle stick, a runner onsaid stick, a plurality of ribs pivoted on one end of said stick, aplurality of stretchers one between said runner and each of said ribs,each stretcher being pivoted at one end to said runner, each of saidribs comprising an inner rib part and an outer rib part pivoted togetherat a point outwardly spaced from the inner end of the outer rib part,and a plurality of coupling members each pivoted to an outer rib part ata second point spaced from but nearer the inner end of the respectiveouter rib part than the first point and to the other end of therespective stretcher, each of said coupling members abutting one side ofthe respective outer rib part to limit rotation of the coupling memberabout its pivot in one direction relative to the said outer rib part andeach of said coupling members also abutting said one side of therespective outer rib part to limit a rotation'in the opposite direction.

2. A collapsible umbrella frame comprising a handle stick, a runner onsaid stick, a plurality of ribs pivoted on one end of said stick, aplurality of stretchers one between said runner and each of said ribs,each stretcher being pivoted at one end to said runner, each of saidribs comprising an inner rib part and an outer rib part pivoted togetherat a point outwardly spaced from the inner end of the outer rib part,and a plurality of coupling members each pivoted to an outer rib part ata second point spaced from but nearer the inner end of the respectiveouter rib part than the first point and to the other end of therespective stretcher, each of said coupling members having two parallelside members between which the respective end of the outer rib passesand an integral part joining the side members near one end thereof,rotation of said coupling member about its pivot relative to therespective outer rib part being limited in both directions by saidintegral part abutting said outer rib part.

3. A collapsible umbrella frame comprising a handle stick, a runner onsaid stick, a plurality of ribs pivoted on one end of said stick, aplurality of stretchers one between said runner and each of said ribs,each stretcher being pivoted at one end to said runner, each of saidribs comprising an inner rib part :and an outer rib part pivotedtogether at a point outwardly spaced from the inner end of the outer ribpart, and a plurality of coupling members each pivoted to an outer ribpart at a second point spaced from but nearer the inner end of therespective outer rib part than the first point and to the other end ofthe respec tive stretcher, whereby said umbrella frame is collapsible torespectively a position where the inner rib part lies between andapproximately parallel to the stretcher and the outer rib part and afolded position where the stretcher lies against and approximatelyparallel to the outer rib part, said coupling member comprising twoparallel side References Cited in the file of this patent membersbetween which the end of the outer rib passes I UNITED STATES PATENTS a1d and an mtegr part JOIJJJDg the en s of the side members 991,632Mroczkowskl May 9, 1911 rotation of said coupling member about its pivotrelative to said outer n'b part being limited in either direction by 5FOREIGN PATENTS I said integral partjabutting one side of said outer ribpart, 5 5 Belgium Sept 15, 1951

